Could Man Utd’s Andreas Pereira break into the first-team after impressing in pre-season?

Manchester United midfielder Andreas Pereira is a hot prospect for the future.

Manchester United midfielder Andreas Pereira impressed his new manager Jose Mourinho with a goalscoring performance in the Red Devils’ 2-0 win against Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

The 20-year-old showed real composure in the middle of the park and capped his positive play with an instinctive goal to help his side to victory.

Mourinho pleased but keen to raise the challenge for Pereira

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho was full of praise for the Belgian-born Brazilian U23 international. He described Pereira as having ‘lots of talent’ while possessing ‘incredible vision’ and ‘incredible technique’. However, the United boss added that the ‘calm environment’ and lack of pressure from the Wigan players will help Pereira passing the ball left and right without misplacing his ball, but he was pleased from the day’s work.

The player himself has been keen to finally get more game time after making just 11 appearances in all competitions for Manchester United in 2014/15 and 2015/16, and is under no illusions how he needs to continue impressing wherever possible in a bid to play for the first-team when the Premier League season begins. He believes pre-season is important, and is keen to show his desire on the training field as well as on the pitch.

Stiff competition in his preferred position

Andreas Pereira came deep a lot of times against Wigan to collect the ball, and wasn’t given much freedom by his manager to drift forward. However, his most-preferred position of that of an attacking-midfielder is one that is well-occupied which could hamper his chances. Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata, Henrik Mkhitaryan and Ander Herrera can all play in the central attacking-midfield role.

As for the wider areas, the likes of Memphis Depay, Anthony Martial, Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard are ahead of Pereira in the pecking order currently, but if the youngster can continue impressing his manager, he stands a chance of playing in the early games of the new season. While Wigan did afford a lot of time and space to the midfielder in this weekend’s pre-season friendly, he still had to ensure that he impressed in front of his manager.

Now 20, the midfielder won’t settle for another campaign on the periphery at Old Trafford, but his stock is high in the camp after his Wigan performance. Man Utd are 4/1 to win the Premier League title this coming season. Will Pereira play a part in the first-team under manager Jose Mourinho?